Bayesian filtering & Message Fingerprinting

Bayesian Filtering and Messaging Fingerprinting moving into Genomic Sequence Analysis. The difference between Tier 1 and the ‘affordable’ solutions.

First, we must explain Bayesian filtering and message fingerprinting:

Bayesian statistical analysis

Bayesian requires a database consisting of thousands of spam and legitimate emails, referred to as spam and ham collections. The content of each new email is analyzed and segmented into strings. These strings are compared with spam and ham collections and classified according to how often they appear in both categories. This frequency is calculated using Bayes’ theorem then a score is obtained, indicating the probability that the message is spam. Any email above a certain threshold will thus be considered spam.

Message fingerprinting

At the beginning of 2006, spammers introduced image spam, a new type of spam that effectively thwarted content analysis. Words contained in this new form of spam were incorporated into an image, making it impossible for detection systems to recognize them. This problem presented a challenge to the global anti-spam industry. Even Optical Character Recognition (OCR); a costly technique, has proved useless. So far, the only solution that can effectively prevent image spam is message fingerprinting.

Message fingerprints are profiles created from the unique form and characteristics of known spam. Message fingerprinting providers collect spam that has been reported to them from around the world by reputable volunteers. The providers use the spam to produce a message fingerprint, which is then incorporated into the filtering system in order to accurately detect messages that have a similar profile.

Why Spambrella is a Tier 1 Email Security Service Provider

Mounting an effective defense against spam requires detection techniques that evolve as quickly as the attacks themselves. Without the ability to adapt automatically to new types of threats, anti-spam defenses will always remain a step behind the spammers. Spambrella connects with Proofpoint MLX™ technology which uses advanced machine learning techniques to provide comprehensive spam detection that guards against the spam threats of today, as well as tomorrow. Proofpoint MLX continuously analyzes millions of messages and automatically adjusts its detection algorithms to identify even the newest, most cunning types of attacks. Proofpoint MLX provides accurate, adaptive, and continuous protection against spam without requiring manual tuning or administrator intervention. Spambrella is thus regarded as a tier 1 provider and is fully backed by Proofpoint Inc. in providing industry-leading (Gartner leader) technology.

Genomic Sequence Analysis

The Spambrella service employs a full range of classification methods, from legacy approaches such as heuristics and Bayesian analysis to state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms (such as those used in genomic sequence analysis) and proprietary image analysis methods. Analyzing millions of messages each day, Proofpoint MLX automatically adjusts its detection algorithms to identify even the newest spam attacks without manual tuning or administrator intervention. As a result, Proofpoint MLX is able to provide continuous spam detection and content filtering with a very high degree of accuracy–typically on the order of 99.8% or higher.

Unlike other anti-spam and malware detection solutions, the Spambrella platform delivers anti-spam defenses that do not degrade over time. By adapting continuously to the changing nature of email attacks, Spambrella ensures that Enterprises always benefit the latest anti-spam defenses–even if those defenses are only a few hours old. Spambrella threat detection technology protects corporate infrastructure against the spam and malware threats of today, as well as tomorrow.

Is this all my organization needs to be safe from Spam?

Sadly not no although this is a major step. The threat landscape changes daily which is why we highlight the importance of real-time threat detection technology and intelligence feeds. Spambrella has utilized both the Intel Security ‘Global Threat Intelligence Network (GTI) and the Proofpoint MLX which puts us in a leading position. However, there are additional layers of security we have added which you can enquire about or indeed learn from additional materials on the website.

Anti-Spam Filter Effectiveness

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